Report: Cleveland Browns will quickly match offer to Alex Mack

Now the Browns know exactly what it will cost them to hold onto Pro Bowl center Alex Mack.
According to Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network, Mack on April 11 will sign an offer sheet from the Jacksonville Jaguars worth $42 million over the next five years.
The Browns plan to waste no time matching the offer once Mack does sign, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.
The contract calls for $18 million guaranteed over the first two years and another $8 million guaranteed in 2016. Another provision allows Mack to opt out of the contract after 2015 and another clause states the team he is playing for, whether the Jaguars or the Browns, cannot use the transition or franchise tag on him in 2016 if he does opt out after 2015.
The Browns made Mack their transition player on March 10, one day before free agency began, precisely so another team would set the terms of a long-term contract. The transition tag gives the Browns five days to match an offer Mack signs.
The opt-out clause is interesting because according to Shefter’s original report, Mack would rather play in Jacksonville than return to Cleveland, where change has been the only constant in the five years he has been with the Browns. Mike Pettine, who opened the Browns’ 2014 offseason program on April 11, would be his fourth head coach in six seasons.
Schefter’s report contradicts what Mack has said publicly since the end of 2013 and it contradicts what his friend and Browns All-Pro left tackle Joe Thomas told reporters at the premier of “Draft Day” on April 8.
“There’s no doubt that he’ll be here at least this year,” Thomas said. “I think that’s for certain. I certainly hope we can sign him to a long-term deal and keep him here for much longer than I’m here.”
Mack’s five-year contract would expire in 2018 — the same year Thomas’ contract runs out. The only way Mack would be tied to the Browns only one season would be if he did not sign the offer sheet from Jacksonville and signed the one-year transition tag tender of $10.039 million instead.
If Mack signs the offer sheet on April 11, the Browns could match before the day ends and Mack could be in Berea to join his teammates in the offseason program when it resumes on April 14. Pettine downplayed Mack’s current absence in Berea during a conference call on April 10.
“It’s not critical,” Pettine said. “All of the offseason stuff is voluntary with the exception of the one (June three-day) camp. I think it’s important, but I don’t think it’s critical. I think he’s certainly smart enough that he will be able to — if we do get him on campus — he will be able to make up for that lost time.”
Mack, 28, has made all 4,998 snaps since the Browns drafted him 21st overall in 2009. He has played in two Pro Bowls.